Azlan to boost web business
Distributor's UK head pledges to improve internet awareness
Azlan’s UK head has pledged to treble the volume of business the networking distributor conducts over the web within 18 months.
Andrew Shepperd, who joined Azlan from CA in January (CRN, 3 January), vowed to throw more weight behind improving awareness.
“I want all of our VARs to be aware of our e-commerce offering, to be comfortable using it and transacting the majority of line items on it,” he said.
InTouch, the e-commerce platform of Azlan’s parent company Computer 2000, is currently used by 6,500 resellers a day, according to Shepperd, which he claimed makes it the most popular trade web site in the UK.
But Shepperd said Azlan VARs currently conduct just 15 per cent of line-item transactions over the web.
“We would hope to increase that number to 40-50 per cent in the next 12 to 18 months,” he said.
Dave Ellis, director of e-security at rival Computerlinks, said the specialist distributor was in the process of rolling out an e-commerce system across its European operations.
“Most of the global enterprise distributors are looking at this area,” he said. “It lowers the distributor’s cost of sale and gives the customer more choice.”